>>>>If you don't care about existing WinXP installation, go ahead. Windows 7 will replace WinXP, not upgrade it. You'll lose all the settings and data.
>>>
>>>Ok, no problem with the settings. But, what about the data. Do you mean this will reset my entire drive so I will loose everything I have installed on it?
>>
>>I insatlled Win 7 Professional on my XP box.. It keeps a copy of the Windws XP "Windows" folder in a folder named "Windows.old". It looks like anything *outside* of that folder tree was erased. See screenshot of what I have after the Win 7 install.
>>
>>Everything that was in those folders is still there. On my machine, that takes up 49GB of my disk!!! I imagine after a few weeks, I'll delete that once I'm sure I don't need to get to any of it.
>
>Do the programs work or you need to re-install SQL Server, etc. ?


The programs do NOT work, it basically just keeps a copy of the files. You will have a virgin OS and have to install EVERYTHING you need / want. That's not all bad. Sometimes I like to just start over. It feels clean and snappy (for now).

Plus, I went from XP 32-bit to Win 7 64-bit. That's why I do not even attempt to use anything from the old OS. I'm happy to just start all over.

There is boot-up screen that has a boot choice that says something like "Previous OS", but I have never chosen that. Perhaps it would boot back into that version of XP? I don't know. Don't even care enough to try. Maybe I'll try it next time I boot up.